Nuclear Division in the Hepaticae. 491 
siderable amount of material at my disposal I am unable to 
speak with confidence about the more delicate details of its 
nuclear division. 
As the spore-mother-cell of Fegatella begins to prepare for 
its final divisions, besides the changes in the cytoplasm already 
alluded to, an alteration is seen in the structure of the nucleus. 
At first this body is not very easy to discriminate. The linin 
takes no stain other than that absorbed by the cytoplasm, and 
it is the nucleolus, with its intense capacity for absorbing dyes, 
which strikes the observer. But as time goes on, the nucleus 
loses its comparatively homogeneous aspect. The linin 
threadwork becomes plainly visible, and is arranged in an 
almost diagrammatic way with regard to the nucleolus. 
When this body happens to be so orientated as to be seen in 
the middle of the nucleus, the linin threads are seen to radiate 
out from it, like the lines of longitude from the poles of 
a globe. When seen from the side, a corresponding con- 
nexion is also clearly discernible. I take this to represent 
the same aggregation stage as is seen in Pellia and other 
forms, but in Fegatella the subsequent occurrences lend addi- 
tional support to the view that the connexion of the linin 
with the nucleolus is not a merely accidental one. The 
nucleolus now fragments, sometimes two or three, but oftener 
a larger number of small nucleoli are seen, and in every case 
the linin filaments are associated with them. It may be urged 
that there can be no real importance attaching to this observa- 
tion, since the large nucleolus of the pollen-mother-cells of 
Lilies and other plants is often not obviously connected with 
the linin. But even in the case of these latter cells, the 
nucleolus often is related to the linin, and Strasburger has 
drawn attention to it in his recent memoir. Moreover I am 
myself convinced, after an inspection of a large number of 
preparations, that there exists in Lilies also, a very important 
relation between the linin and the nucleoli during the earlier 
stages of karyokinesis. But Fegatella certainly exhibits this 
relation far more clearly than in any other plant with which I 
am acquainted, and it is seen not only during the differentiation 
